but as cnn first reported on this program last week, house speaker john boehner used a post-election conference call with rank-and-file republicans to plead for patience, to give him running room to negotiate with the president who did just win reelection. mandate or not. >> let's discuss what's going on in our "strategy session." joining us are donna brazile and alex castellanos. that bill crystal comment, go ahead, raise the taxes on the wealthy, maybe more than $250,000, maybe $1 million a year. he says, what's wrong with that? half of them voted for obama anyhow in hollywood, he makes that point. >> i think the big thing is republicans want to plant as much seed corn into the economy so it will grow. but here's how the republicans in the house are looking at this thing. i've talked with a few of them this week. this is not about a deal to raise taxes. we already have a deal to raise taxes. when these tax cuts expire, taxes will go up for everybody. what we're talking about is a deal to get some of the money back. >> but no one wants the taxes to go up for the middle tax, for peop